Toothbrush holder



my 1923. m6119915 W. W. WELPLEY TOOTHBRUSH yHOLDER Filed Feb. 9. 1922 Patented July 3, 1923.

UNITEDSTATES Parar rica.

WALTER W. ELPLEY7 OFDETROIT, MICHGAN, ASSIGNOR ON ONE-HALF TO GRANT L. COOK, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

. TOOTIIBRU'SH HOLDER.

Application led February 9, 1922. Serial No. 535,286.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that l, WALTERV, VVELPLEY,

a citizen of the United States of America,

residing at Detroit, in the county of VVa-yne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tooth'- brush Holders7 of Which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a tooth brush holder and has special reference to that class of devices affording a multiplicity of compartments in which tooth brushes or the like may be placedand maintained in a sanitary condition.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a sanitary` multiple tooth brush holder consisting 0f comparatively few parts, one of which is inthe form of a blank bent to provide a shelf and combined container holders and tooth brush clamping means, said means being designedpto frictionally clamp tooth brushes in containers so that the tooth brushes may be easily removed lfrom the containers and as readily placed therein. Other parts of the device are the containers which are in the form of open end tubes or cylindrical shells having the upper ends thereof closed by the shelf of the device, and tooth brushes or the like can be readily inserted in the lower open ends of said tubes.

A further object of my invention is to provide a durable and inexpensive tooth brush holder consisting of a back piece that may be made of pyralin, Celluloid or a material that will present a neat and attractive appearance, and supported by the back piece are tubular containers that may be made of glass; the device in its entirety being of a sanitary nature and highly efficient as a bathroom accessory.

vrlhe above and other objects are attained by a construction that will be hereinafter specifically described and then claimed, and reference will now be had to the drawing, wherein- Figure l is a perspective view of the tooth brush holding device;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing a portion of the tooth brush held by the device;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the device;

Fig. 5 is a plan of a blank back piece of the device, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a detached tubular container of the device.

In the drawing, the reference numeral l denotes a back piece made from a blank of bendable or malleable material and the upper portion of the blank is `adapted to be bent on a dot and dash line 2 to provide a longitudinal shelf 3 at a right angle to the front face of the back piece l, and the blank is further bent, on the dot and dash line 1l, to provide a ledge or front wall 5 for the shelf 8. The shelf is provided with a plurality of air vents 6 and a plurality of apertures 7 the vents being located in a row longitudinally of the shelf and the apertures 7 similarly arranged in proximity to the upper edge of the back piece l.`

The lower portion of the back piece l is cut and stamped to provide a plurality of outstruck tongues or clamping members S which extend upwardly and outwardly from the lower portion of the back pieceI 1, and the ends of the back piece have apertures 9 so that tacks or other fastening means may be employed for securing the back piece to a wall or other support.

The reference numeral l() ,denotes tubular containers, preferably made of glass or other transparent material and the lower open ends of said containers are adapted to be placed over the outstruck tongues 8 and wedged between said tongues and the back piece, while the upper open ends of said containers are snapped under the shelf 3 to be closed thereby, said shelf cooperating with the tongues 8 in preventing displacement of the tubular containers which are vertically disposed in parallelism against the front face of the back piece l.

In addition to the tongues 8 and the shelf 3 for holding the containers in place are sta- 'ples 0r retaining members l1, substantially inverted U-shape7 adapted to have the ends thereof inserted in the apertures 7 with the depending ends of said retaining members against the rear walls of the containers l0, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 4, thus preventing the upper ends of the containers 10 from swinging outwardly from under the shelf 3. The air Vents 6 jill be substantially lWithin the axes of the tubular container and insure proper ventilation therein.

The bristle end l2 of the tooth brush 1B het inserted' in' one of they containers with the back of the brush against they outstruck tongue 8 Within the container, such insertion of the brush placing` the resilient tongue under tension so that pressure of the tongue against the back of thebrush willl causethe bristles to bind against the front Wall of tlie` container, the brush being` clamped in the container so that itv cannot accidentally 'all1 out oi1f the same, yet permit ot easy Withdrawal of the brush l-romthecontainer.

It is thought that the utility of my de- .vice willE be apparent Without further descri'ption, and While in the drawing there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understoodthat the structural elements are susceptible to such varia-tions andV Inodiiications as fall Within the scope of the appended claims.

lVhat I claim is:

l. In -a tooth brush holder wherein a brush is inserted' in a bottom open end oi the holder, a back piece bent to provide a shelf' and cut and stamped to provide outstruek resilient members, and tubular containers havingopen ends andadapted to be placed on said resilient members with. the upper ends of'said containers closed by the shelf of said back piece, said resilient members adapted to hold brushes in said containers against, front Walls thereof'.

2. A toothbrush holder asin claimy l, and means mounted in the shelf of said back piece with itsfends extending intoY adjacent tubular containers adapted to cooperate with said resilient members in retaining said tubularV containers under said shelf.

3. A tooth brush holding device comprising' a bac'lipiece adapted for attachment to a support, open end vertically disposed tubular containers aga-instsaid bacle piece, a. shellc closing tlieupper ends oii said-containers and provided with air vents for' said' containers, and resilient members struclrl lout or' said back piece and eiitendinfg into the lower openl ends oi' 'said containers for supporting said containers and adapted to retain-the bristle ends of 'tooth brushes inisai'd containers by pressing` the brushes `against the front walls of said eon'tainers.`

4:. A toothl brush holding" kdevice as in claim 3, and a staple carried by said shelf and having' its ends extending into adjacent containers against rear Walls-thereof to hold said containers against said back piece.

Intestimony whereof" I vatlix Iny signature in presence of two witnesses;

WALTER W. Wie-Lener.- 

